Museum Offers Taste Of Food Fads' History

November 27, 2004|By Tyler Treadway The Fort Pierce Tribune

Fort Pierce — If you can pull yourself away from the leftover turkey and dressing, head to the St. Lucie County Historical Museum on Sunday to learn how food fads of the past have become the staples of today.

Marge Sharpe, of Fort Pierce, a food historian and former director of education at the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, N.Y., (the hometown of Jell-O) will talk about foods that were introduced to raised eyebrows from the 1830s through the early 1900s .

Take, for instance, Sylvester Graham, a self-professed medicine man, philosopher and health food fanatic in the 1830s. While most Americans were eating a diet heavy in meat, Graham and his followers were vegetarians who made bread from a coarsely ground flour that became known as graham flour.

They also used it to make crackers: Graham's crackers.

"Those Graham's crackers aren't like the graham crackers you find in the store today," Sharpe said. "They were made without sugar and were quite bland."

Sharpe also will talk about the Kellogg brothers of Battle Creek, Mich., who were trying to come up with a healthy breakfast dish that didn't have to be cooked.

People thought the Kelloggs were, well, flaky.

Other "fads" include canned food and the A&P grocery stores where, rather than have clerks round up their food, housewives picked out items for themselves.

"Maybe `food fads' isn't the proper term for what these people were doing back then," Sharpe said, "because in actuality they were starting a revolution and shaping how we eat today."

Tyler Treadway can be reached at tyler.treadway@ scripps.com.

IF YOU GO

What: "Food fads" through history, a presentation by Marge Sharpe, a food historian.

Where: The Gardner House of the St. Lucie County Historical Museum, 414 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce.

When: Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: $4 for adults; $3.50 for seniors; $1.50 for children 6-17; free for children under 6.